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A Chasing After the Wind
World War II lasted into the fifties or even sixties, and ended in far more casualties. By the present day, somewhere in the 21st century, the population is far lower than our own. After the space war, satellites can no longer be sent in space, thus making international communication more difficult. There is no real equivalent of the internet as we understand it. Planetary reconstruction is in vogue, and owning, say, your own 4-billion-acre rainforest is an elite status symbol. The planetary economy is still in pieces, and wandering the planet is fairly common. The main character is a former academic trying to find a place in a world that no longer has need for his services. In his youth, he was a real man’s man and elements of that are still there, although faded. He now travels the world with other uprooted people, trying to find a place. He has only ever loved one woman, but for various reasons he cannot be with her. He has a number of friends and connections (a surprising amount, if anything) but as a running feature, they can never seem to help him in the long run. One proposal is that he help someone unfamiliar with the world as he travels, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this premise is just as often subverted by the two being separated for long stretches of time. I want this to reflect movies I’ve seen that really capture an era, and can do so without needing action. What was that one Brendan Fraser was in, that a writer thought demonstrated he could be a good Clark Kent? Anyway, the main character would travel around, getting into scrapes (not of an action variety, as I said) that tell tales. I think the story should be, in many ways positive (Raising Hope, Joe Pera) but have a veneer of sadness and missed opportunity that does not easily go away. Some of it reflects that melancholy state when you really do enjoy being alone. So, what would an “episode” of this look like? The first episode would deal with how he keeps traveling, money-wise. There would definitely be certain recurring characters. I think, on some level, I just want to revel in nostalgia and exoticism, and I see no reason not to indulge that a little. Countries would reconstruct how they were in their golden age. Plus, the natural world would be flourishing. He’d show up looking to do odd jobs. It would be in his backstory that he used to do have a chance with some of the world’s rich elite, but he actively fled that. Some of them are readily hoping to see him return. He didn’t like how easy it was. He missed fending for himself, and he thought it was out of touch with how the world really was. He might have numerous love affairs, but he would be unwilling to really go ahead with some of them, in part because he doesn’t really consider himself worthy. Plus, he considers himself bad luck. It would be interesting if he played a crucial role in the invention of some of the world rebuilding technologies. Friends: a low-level worker who also travels the world. One is a bit more chatty and optimistic than he. The one woman he loved but cannot be with. Several members of a rich elite that he is on-and-off friend to. I think it would be interesting to take some inspiration from The Wild Thornberrys. He would spend several episodes at a time in a single region, before moving on. No doubt he has no real close family of his own, or at least none that appear. He was probably fired from his university job over political/ideological differences. (He definitely would subscribe to traditional views of manliness, and possibly influenced some students in this regard.) He was in the war at some point, too. Our hero travels the world on an airship maintained by a ragtag crew with varying goals in life. He is the inventor of the terraforming technology and sometimes takes jobs repairing it. At some point in the story he leaves the airship crew. He was in the war, and so were some of the other characters. On some level, he just wants to be left alone, but keeps getting dragged into the same old things, the squabbles, the hardships. Dr. Henry Garrett was in the last war and subsequently invented terraform technology that has been integral in rebuilding the world. Shunning the public eye, he retired for a while, until he returned for mysterious reasons. He now travels with a small company, setting up and servicing terraform engines around the world. Along with him are his protégé, whom he is teaching his technique, a landscape artist, their legal and accounting expert, the mechanic who also services the ship, and possibly the ship’s captain unless that is one of the aforementioned. There is also a biologist and a climatologist. I am guessing there is some rivalry between Garrett and the captain. There are also a number of women in love with Garrett, although he is distant from all of them. The one he probably seems to love the most is one who disappeared one day and he can’t seem to find, except under truly rare occasions. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is one who is supposed to be loyal to someone else. Category:Stories